43 Facts About Gordon Lunan

David Gordon Lunan was a Canadian Army officer who, in 1946, was convicted of espionage on behalf of the Soviet Union.

Gordon Lunan had acted as a handler for three other accused spies: Israel Halperin, Edward Mazerall, and Durnford Smith.

Gordon Lunan was sentenced to five years' imprisonment and given two additional sentences totalling 15 months for contempt of court when he refused to testify against Halperin and Fred Rose.

Gordon Lunan had three brothers and his father worked as a commercial traveller.

Gordon Lunan finished school at 17 and began an apprenticeship with S H Benson, a British advertising company.

On January 20,1943, Gordon Lunan enlisted in the Canadian Army as a private.

Eleven months later, Gordon Lunan was assigned to the Wartime Information Board with the rank of lieutenant.

Gordon Lunan was posted in Ottawa, where he edited Canadian Affairs, a military journal written for members of the armed forces serving overseas to keep them appraised of current affairs and prepare them for return to civilian life.

Gordon Lunan became active in a number of political movements, such as the Quebec Committee for Allied Victory and the communist Labor-Progressive Party.

Gordon Lunan was befriended by Fred Rose, a politician and union organizer who would go on to become a member of Parliament under the LLP banner.

Gordon Lunan met often with Rose and other communist activists and allowed them the use of his apartment for discussion groups.

Gordon Lunan was approached by Rose about supplying information to the Soviets, a proposal Gordon Lunan quickly agreed to.

Gordon Lunan led him down Sussex Drive where she introduced him to a "shabbily and rather oddly dressed" man.

In either case, the individual was Colonel Vasili Rogov, assistant to Colonel Nikolai Zabotin, the military attache at the Soviet Embassy, whom Gordon Lunan knew only as "Jan".

The driver hurriedly circled back toward their starting point and Gordon Lunan was unceremoniously dropped off mid-block.

Gordon Lunan was to relay requests for information on Canadian research in a number of fields.

Gordon Lunan was reluctant to help Lunan and put off meeting with him for weeks.

Finally, in late July 1945, Gordon Lunan approached him under the guise that the editor of an army newspaper was looking for information on developments in radar technology.

Gordon Lunan speculated that the money allocated to him was instead misappropriated by Embassy staff.

Gordon Lunan ceased his espionage activities in August 1945 following the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

On January 9,1946, Gordon Lunan was sent to London where he was stationed at Canada House.

Gordon Lunan was initially tasked with providing publicity for the first session of the United Nations General Assembly, but he ended up as a speechwriter for Paul Martin Sr.

Martin was aware that Gordon Lunan was under suspicion of espionage.

Gordon Lunan was directed to a small room where several plainclothes RCMP officers surrounded and detained him.

Gordon Lunan was one of the first to be targeted for interrogation.

Gordon Lunan was questioned by Clifford Harvison, an RCMP officer who would go on to become Commissioner of the RCMP.

Gordon Lunan was told the other detainees had implicated him.

Gordon Lunan was gone far enough to make retraction difficult and with luck he will make statement tomorrow.

Gordon Lunan described the conditions as "psychological torture", citing his isolation, the 24-hour lighting, and Harvison's "highly vindictive" attitude, though he could not identify any specific instances of physical threats or intimidation.

Gordon Lunan stated that ignorance of the law was not a defence and claimed the accused could have avoided self-incrimination by demanding protection under the Canada Evidence Act.

Gordon Lunan was called to testify in Mazerall's trial, but refused; however, McRuer did not charge him with contempt of court.

Gordon Lunan served his sentence at Bordeaux Prison in Montreal while awaiting his own trial.

Gordon Lunan was represented by Joseph Cohen, who had defended Rose.

Cohen's defence strategy was largely centred on discrediting the Commission and having Gordon Lunan's testimony ruled inadmissible, arguing the "intimidation, threats, promises and inducements in a legal sense, every type of thing makes his testimony inadmissible".

However, the presiding judge, A Gordon McDougall, ruled the testimony admissible.

Gordon Lunan expressed regret over implicating Smith and refused to testify at his trial.

However, the trial was put on hold when Gordon Lunan was called as a witness and he refused to testify.

Gordon Lunan was again charged with contempt of court and sentenced to an additional year in prison.

Gordon Lunan surrendered to the Carleton County Sheriff, but could not be sent directly to Kingston due to a severe snowstorm.

Gordon Lunan was released on October 20,1951, after serving four-and-a-half years, with time off for good behaviour.

Gordon Lunan later married Miriam Magee, a woman he met at a party celebrating his release.

In 1995, Gordon Lunan published a memoir on his experiences, The Making of a Spy: A Political Odyssey.

In 2005, Gordon Lunan suffered a fall and spent the final two weeks of his life in a hospital in Hawkesbury, Ontario.